914- 

-32 
pro 


UC-NRLF 


Progress 

of 

Journalism 


THOMAS   REES. 


progress  of  Journalism 


flnnual  Address 

of  the 

Illinois  Press  Association 

by 

tbomas  Rees 

of  the  Illinois  State  Register,  Springfield 

+ 
Chicago,  Tebruary  19,  1902 

Addenda: 

The  Pioneers  of  Illinois 
The  Old  Subscriber 


r 


That  strictly  American  machine — wonderful  in  its  sim- 
plicity, graceful  in  its  every  line,  quiet  in  its  movements, 
powerful  in  its  performance.— Page  21. 


Early  History. 

In  endeavoring  to  write  the  early 
history  of  the  newspaper  business,  it  is 
somewhat  difficult  to  tell  where  to 
commence,  for  besides  the  uncertainty 
of  the  time  when  the  first  publications 
were  made,  it  is  likewise  difficult  to 
determine  when  those  early  publica- 
tions could  really  be  classed  as  news- 
papers, or  even  periodicals. 

In  the  latter  days  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire, a  daily  paper  was  prepared  for 
official  uses,  but  that  could  hardly  be 
termed  a  newspaper.  A  similar  sort  of 
a  paper  was  prepared,  perhaps  not  so 
regularly,  at  Venice.  Nuremburg  seems 
to  have  had  some  sort  of  a  paper  as 
early  as  1457  and  various  publications 
were  made  at  different  places  and  at 
different  times  in  Germany  and  Italy, 
and  perhaps  in  other  countries.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  17th  century,  or  about 
150  years  after  the  invention  of  mov- 


M130814 


abJe  types,'  newspapers  began  to  be 
regularly  published  in  Germany,  En- 
gland and  France,  but  editorial  com- 
ment or  the  editorial  column  was  intro- 
duced about  a  hundred  years  later. 

The  introduction  of  the  editorial 
brought  with  it  trouble  and  woe  to  the 
early  editors.  Daniel  De  Foe  was  pil- 
loried and  many  editors  in  England 
and  other  European  countries  were  im- 
prisoned; some  had  their  ears  cut  off 
as  a  mark  of  warning  and  disgrace  and 
objectionable  editions  of  newspapers 
were  burned  before  the  people  by  the 
public  hangman.  But  right  must  pre- 
vail, and,  thanks  to  those  heroes,  it  has 
prevailed  in  the  newspaper  business. 

John  Campbell,  of  Boston,  is  given 
the  credit  of  having  established  the 
first  newspaper  in  America  in  the  year 
1704,  and  had  a  complete  monopoly  of 
the  newspaper  business  of  America  for 
fifteen  years,  at  which  time  he  had 
swelled  the  circulation  to  a  claim  of 
300  subscribers.  In  1719  an  opposition 
paper  was  started  by  Wm.  Brooker  and 
an  editorial  war  broke  out  which  en- 

—6— 


gaged  all  the  editors  in  America  at 
that  time.  This  war  seems  to  be  still 
on  with  no  prospect  of  a  finish.  When 
the  war  of  the  Revolution  commenced, 
there  were  published  in  all  the  colon- 
ies combined  something  less  than  forty 
newspapers  and  some  of  them  had  very 
interesting  experiences  as  the  war  pro- 
gressed. 

The  nineteenth  Century. 

At  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury about  200  papers  were  published 
in  the  United  States,  and  the  century 
was  remarkable  for  the  increase — not 
only  in  regard  to  the  number  of  pub- 
lications— but  in  the  enlargement  and 
improvement  in  all  branches.  In  1850 
the  number  of  newspapers  had  in- 
creased to  2,500  and  the  century  closed 
with  a  grand  total  of  20,000,  which 
number  has  been  added  to  since. 

Heroic  Journalism. 

The  period  in  American  history  em- 
bracing the  first  six  decades  of  the 
nineteenth  century  might  be  termed 
th^  heroic  age  in  journalism  and  there 


were  giants  in  those  days.  Within  this 
time  the  great  Northwest  Territory  was 
added  to  the  United  States,  the  war  of 
1812,  the  Black  Hawk  war,  the  war 
with  Mexico,  the  annexation  of  Texas 
and  California  had  taken  place  and  the 
agitation  of  the  slavery  question  had 
culminated  in  a  degree  of  heat  that 
was  soon  to  burst  the  bonds  of  the 
Union  assunder.  It  was  such  times  as 
try  men's  souls  and  it  produced  a 
group  of  journalists,  the  like  of  which 
I  fear  we  may  never  see  again.  It  is 
true  even  before  that  we  had  Franklin 
and  a  few  other  prominent  newspaper- 
men, but  now  came  a  time  when  all 
or  nearly  all  men  in  the  profession  be- 
came great,  and  after  a  lapse  of  half 
a  century  many  of  their  names  are 
more  familiar  than  the  editors  of  the 
same  papers  at  the  present  day. 
Among  the  more  illustrious  were  Hor- 
ace Greeley,  of  the  New  York  Tribune, 
William  Cullen  Bryant,  of  the  New 
York  Evening  Post,  James  Gordon  Ben- 
nett, of  the  New  York  Herald,  Thurlow 
Weed,  of  the  Albany  Journal,  Geo.  D. 


Prentice,  of  the  Louisville  Journal, 
Samuel  Bowles,  of  the  Springfield  Re- 
publican, Francis  P.  Blair,  of  the  Wash- 
ington Globe,  Horace  J.  Raymond,  of 
the  New  V  rk  Times,  Wilbur  F.  Storey, 
of  the  Chicago  Times,  Joseph  Medill,  of 
the  Chicago  Tribune,  Chas.  W.  Knapp, 
of  the  St.  Louis  Republican,  Simeon 
Francis,  who  established  the  Illinois 
State  Journal,  William  Walters,  who 
established  the  Illinois  State  Register, 
and  a  host  of  others,  some  of  whom 
have  been  or  are  now  members  of  this 
Association,  although  the  most  of  them 
have  joined  the  majority  on  the  other 
side. 

Elijah  P.  Lovcjcy. 

In  the  great  galaxy  of  editorial  stars 
let  us  not  overlook  the  one  whose  name 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  long  illus- 
trious list,  who  owned  and  published  a 
paper  of  such  infinitely  small  propor- 
tions as  compared  with  other  great  and 
greater  journals  that  I  doubt  whether 
there  is  one  of  a  thousand  today  who 
could  tell  the  name  of  that  paper,  and 

—9— 


yet  whose  editor  was  a  man  of  such 
honesty  of  purpose,  such  determination 
in  the  line  of  principle,  was  so  courage- 
ous and  unfaltering  in  the  carrying  out 
of  his  convictions  that  his  life  and  his 
death  have  been  an  incentive  to  all 
editors  of  all  places  for  nearly  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  and  will  be  as 
long  as  newspapers  are  published  and 
the  lamp  of  liberty  continues  to  burn. 
I  refer  to  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy,  of  the 
Alton  Observer,  who  gave  his  life 
willingly  to  what  he  knew  to  be  the 
right.  Innumerable  were  the  times  hfs 
life  had  been  threatened,  three  times 
had  his  office  and  his  presses  been  de- 
stroyed. With  full  warning  of  the  fate 
awaiting  him,  he  proceeded  the  fourth 
time  to  replace  his  office,  knowing 
neither  fear  nor  dismay  he  met  his 
death  like  a  hero,  a  martyr  to  the 
cause  of  liberty.  Lovejoy  died,  but  he 
died  as  a  brave  man  and  not  as  a 
coward,  but  after  all  be  it  remembered 
that  even  in  death  the  brave  man  has 
an  advantage,  for  "a  coward  dies  a 
thousand  times  before  his  time;  the 

—10— 


brave  man  dies  but  once."  Lovejoy 
died,  but  the  cause  in  which  he  worked 
— the  cause  of  freedom — never  dies; 
others  continued  the  work  where  Love- 
joy  left  off  and  his  grandest  anticipa- 
tions were  more  than  realized  when 
Abraham  Lincoln  issued  his  emancipa- 
tion proclamation  and  the  shackling 
chains  fell  from  the  limbs  of  four  mil- 
lion slaves.  Lincoln,  the  martyr,  com- 
pleted the  work  in  which  Lovejoy,  the 
martyr,  was  engaged  and  the  people 
of  this  nation  have  reared  massive 
monuments  to  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
the  people  of  this  state,  after  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a  century  from  the 
time  of  his  death,  erected  to  the  mem- 
ory of  the  martyr  Lovejoy  a  stately 
monument  in  the  city  where  he  fell, 
and  set  forth  on  enduring  tablets  of 
stone  his  immortal  words,  "As  long 
as  I  am  an  American  citizen,  and  as 
long  as  American  blood  flows  in  these 
veins,  I  shall  hold  myself  at  liberty  to 
speak,  to  write,  to  publish  whatever  I 
please  on  any  subject.  I  can  die  at  my 
post,  but  I  cannot  desert  it." 
—11— 


Popular  Intelligence. 

The  great  increase  in  the  population 
of  the  United  States  of  course  was  the 
greatest  factor  in  the  increasing  of  the 
circulation  of  newspapers,  but  the  im- 
provement in  the  public  school  system 
and  the  general  spread  of  popular  edu- 
cation, with  the  high  price  of  books  at 
that  time,  had  by  the  middle  of  the 
century  made  a  nation  hungering  and 
thirsting  for  knowledge,  or  at  least  for 
reading  matter.  The  breaking  out  of 
the  civil  war  about  the  time  of  the 
introduction  of  the  telegraph  gave  the 
newspaper  business  an  impetus  which 
has  carried  it  on  to  the  high  road  of 
success.  Since  that  time  the  number 
of  papers  established  and  the  growth 
of  the  business  from  a  commercial 
standpoint  has  been  simply  phenom- 
enal and  to  the  making  of  papers  there 
seems  to  be  no  end.  It  appears  there 
is  or  has  been  no  village  so  small  but 
there  was  a  want  for  a  paper  that 
could  be  met  at  least  with  the  auxil- 
iary sheet  and  no  town  or  city  that  had 
papers  already  but  what  appeared  to 

—12— 


some  one  to  need  more,  and  so  we  have, 
as  before  stated,  the  grand  total  of  20,- 
000  or  more  papers  at  the  present  time. 

Big  and  Little  Papers. 

Yes,  popular  intelligence  has  demand- 
ed lots  of  papers  and  they  have  come 
in  response  to  that  demand  and  it 
seems  that  there  is  room  for  all.  They 
are  like  the  stars  of  the  heavens — a 
few  big  ones  and  a  whole  lot  of  little 
ones — but  if  they  were  not  for  a  pur- 
pose they  would  not  be  there.  Look 
up  at  the  heavens.  Can  you  count  the 
stars?  No.  Are  they  crowded?  No. 
There  is  room  for  all,  and  each  one,  we 
are  told,  is  a  world.  So  with  news- 
papers. There  may  seem  to  be  a  great 
many  of  them,  more  than  you  can 
count  and  more  little  ones  than  big 
ones,  but  each  has  its  use  in  the  firma- 
ment of  journalism  and  each  is  a  world 
within  itself.  The  astronomers  tell  us 
of  stars  of  the  first  and  second  magni- 
tude and  of  planets  and  satellites;  so 
there  may  be  newspapers  of  the  first 
and  second  magnitude  and  planets  and 

—13— 


satellites,  but  no  one  seems  to  en- 
croach upon  the  field  of  the  other.  So, 
to  the  man  who  has  a  little  paper,  I 
would  say,  be  not  discouraged;  fill  your 
field  with  your  little  paper  to  the  best 
of  your  ability  until  you  can  take  pos- 
session of  a  bigger  paper  in  a  bigger 
field,  even  as  you  may  hope  to  finally 
leave  this  world  for  a  better  and 
bigger  one  to  come.  'Tis  true  you  may 
have  big  papers  to  contend  with,  but 
after  all  they  are  only  operated  by  men. 
In  every  battle  there  are  big  guns  and 
heavy  artillery,  but  for  every  cannon 
there  are  a  thousand  muskets  and  it  is 
usually  the  men  with  the  muskets  that 
win  the  battles.  The  artillery  may 
shake  the  earth  and  fill  the  heavens 
with  sound  and  smoke,  sink  big  ships 
and  demolish  heavy  fortifications,  but 
after  all  they  are  only  fired  by  men, 
and  the  man  behind  the  gun  is  just  the 
same  man  whether  he  is  behind  a  can- 
non or  behind  a  musket,  and  if  the 
musket  is  aimed  straight  and  hits  a 
vital  place  it  will  hurt  your  friend,  the 
enemy  on  the  other  side,  just  as  fatally 

—14— 


as  though  he  were  struck  by  a  cannon 
ball.  So  I  would  say  to  the  man  with 
the  little  paper  as  I  would  say  to  the 
man  with  the  little  gun — keep  up  the 
fight  and  never  cease  firing  until  you 
conquer,  and  do  not  become  alarmed 
or  beat  a  retreat  because  you  hap- 
pen to  see  a  man  with  a  cannon  or 
because  you  chance  to  hear  one  go  off. 

the  Editor  Overwhelmed. 

It  is  unfortunate  in  the  greatness  of 
the  great  papers  that  the  editor  has 
been  overwhelmed.  The  editorial  pages 
of  such  papers  have  become  too  exten- 
sive for  any  one  man  to  handle,  so  they 
must  be  edited  by  a  number  of  men, 
and  as  there  should  be  a  consistency  in 
the  editorial  tone,  individualism  has 
been  superseded  by  unity.  The  edi- 
torial page  has  become  a  reflex  of  the 
combined  opinions  of  the  members  of 
the  corporation  which  controls  the  pub- 
lication. And  this  is  a  lamentable 
feature  of  the  metropolitan  journals  of 
today.  The  loss  of  individualism  in 

—15— 


any  enterprise  is  to  be  regretted,  and 
no  matter  how  large  the  circulation  of 
a  paper  may  be,  no  matter  how  many 
pages  are  printed  each  day  or  how 
many  readers  a  newspaper  may  have, 
it  can  never  become  a  great  paper  edi- 
torially unless  it  has  one  responsible 
editor  who  knows  the  people  and  whom 
the  people  know.  I  make  this  state- 
ment believing  that  it  will  be  generally 
conceded,  the  New  York  World  had 
more  editorial  influence  with  20,000 
circulation  with  Manton  Marble  as  its 
editor,  than  it  now  has  with  half  a 
million  circulation  and  a  score  of  edi- 
tors whose  identity  never  reaches  be- 
yond the  pay  roll  Saturday  night.  And 
practically  the  same  could  be  said  of 
the  New  York  Tribune,  the  New  York 
Times,  the  Post,  the  Herald,  the  Sun, 
and  of  every  daily  paper  published  in 
the  city  of  Chicago  today.  And  here 
is  where  the  country  editor  must  be 
looked  to  for  the  perpetuity  of  the 
honor  of  the  newspaper  profession.  The 
country  with  its  pure  air  produces  not 
only  all  that  which  sustains  men,  but 

—16— 


it  likewise  produces  men,  and  it  broad- 
ens mankind  in  general,  while  the 
cities,  the  congested  centers  of  popula- 
tion, burn  and  consume.  The  atmos- 
phere in  the  cities  is  not  healthy,  either 
from  a  moral  or  physical  standpoint, 
and  the  rural  districts  must  be  looked 
to  to  furnish  the  physical  and  moral 
stamina  of  the  nation  and  the  country 
editors  must  finally  be  depended  upon 
to  formulate  and  control  the  editorial 
morale  of  the  newspapers  of  America. 

TiK  metropolitan  Papers. 

By  the  foregoing  remarks  it  must  not 
be  inferred  that  I  would  rob  the  met- 
ropolitan papers  of  the  honor  which 
properly  belongs  to  them.  I  would  not 
if  I  could  and  I  could  not  if  I  so  de- 
sired. There  is  much  good  in  them. 
There  is  nothing  that  can  destroy  them 
and  their  destruction,  if  it  comes  at  all, 
will  come  from  themselves,  should  they 
drop  from  the  high  plane  which  they 
now  occupy  to  the  lower  plane  of  jour- 
nalism. As  before  intimated,  they  are 

—17— 


to  the  fraternity  of  journalism  what 
the  artillery  is  to  the  army,  or  what 
the  60 -ton  guns  are  to  the  navy.  While 
they  are  usually  published  by  corpora- 
tions they  are  frequently  controlled  by 
one  man  and  the  man  who  owns  or  con- 
trols an  immense  metropolitan  news- 
paper is  a  greater  man  than  the  gen- 
eral of  an  army  or  even  the  ruler  of  a 
considerable  nation.  To  be  the  com- 
manding spirit  in  the  center  of  a  whirl 
of  activity,  operating  a  journalistic  ma- 
chine so  immense  that  each  revolution 
shakes  the  earth,  an  institution  that 
gathers  all  the  news  from  every  quar- 
ter of  the  habitable  globe  and  even  be- 
yond the  habitable  parts  thereof,  and 
scatters  the  same  to  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth  again;  that  exchanges  the 
news  of  the  world  for  the  news  of  the 
world;  an  institution  that  controls  as 
it  were  the  center  of  a  huge  hour  glass 
into  which  all  the  sands  of  all  the 
news  of  all  the  earth  do  run,  and  out 
of  which  all  the  sands  of  all  the  news 
of  all  the  earth  do  flow  again,  is  too 
grand  a  position  to  contemplate  with- 


out  admiration.  To  occupy  such  a  po- 
sition with  a  golden  stream  of  approval 
flowing  in  from  every  direction  to  be 
expended  in  gathering  news  and  doing 
good.  To  be  able  to  send  men  into 
every  city,  village  and  hamlet;  to  be 
able  to  hire  ships  to  scour  the  oceans; 
to  be  able  to  send  caravans  into  the 
darkest  parts  of  the  uncivilized  con- 
tinents; to  engage  men  to  dig  and 
delve  into  the  crypts  of  prehistoric  an- 
tiquity and  bring  forth  the  hidden 
treasures  of  knowledge  of  peoples  long 
dead  and  forgotten;  to  send  ships  and 
men  to  search  for  the  solution  of  the 
mysteries  of  the  frozen  zones;  to  erect 
monuments  for  deserving  heroes  and  to 
establish  homes  for  old  men  and 
women  whose  latter  days  are  being 
trodden  beneath  the  feet  of  a  rush- 
ing, unthinking  and  uncharitable 
world;  and  finally  to  be  able  to  succor 
and  take  from  the  streets  the  little 
waifs  and  lost  and  forgotten  pearls 
of  which  our  Saviour  said,  "Suffer 
them  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them 
not."  To  occupy  such  a  position,  to  be 

—19— 


able  to  do  such  work,  is  a  privilege 
granted  to  but  few  men  on  this  earth. 
Such  a  position  is  worth  striving  for 
and  the  nearer  one  may  reach  it  the 
better  the  opportunity  may  be  for  do- 
ing good. 

mechanical  Progress. 

The  mechanical  appliances  used  in 
connection  with  the  publication  of 
newspapers  would  indicate  a  close 
partnership  between  the  people  who 
have  made  the  papers  and  the  people 
who  have  made  the  machinery  used  In 
their  production.  And  while  it  seems 
to  the  publishers  that  the  machine 
builders  have  secured  the  most  of  the 
profits  of  the  partnership,  the  fact 
must  not  be  overlooked  that  the  pub- 
lishers have  also  done  fairly  well;  be 
that  as  it  may,  the  two  classes  have 
worked  hand  in  hand.  It  is  said  that 
necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention 
and  this  is  particularly  true  in  this 
case,  as  the  newspapers  of  the  present 
day  could  not  be  issued  as  they  are 
save  for  the  men  of  great  inventive 

—20— 


genius  who  have  constructed  such 
wonderful  machinery  as  is  used  in  the 
business  at  the  present  time;  and  such 
machines  would  be  utterly  useless  had 
the  business  of  newspaper  making  fail- 
ed in  the  wonderful  development  it  has 
reached. 

Previous  to  the  year  1800  all  printing 
was  done  on  various  kinds  of  screw 
presses,  among  which  is  the  "Old 
Eamage."  Franklin  used  such  a  p'fess 
in  his  day.  The  hand  press  was  intro- 
duced about  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  and  after  several  pat- 
terns of  hand  presses  had  been  turned 
out,  the  greatest  perfection  was 
reached  when  Samuel  Rust  invented 
the  Washington  hand  press  in  1827. 

The  Washington  Hand  Press. 

That  strictly  American  machine.  It 
was  the  press  of  Lovejoy  and  the 
heroic  editors  of  his  day  who  came 
with  the  vanguard  of  homeseekers  and 
homemakers  that  moved  westward 
with  the  star  of  empire  and  blazed  the 
way  of  freedom  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific.  Those  sturdy  pioneers 

—21— 


"Who   crossed    the   prairies    as   of   old 
Our  fathers  crossed  the  sea, 

To  make  the  West  as  they  the  East 
The  homestead   of  the  free." 

It  has  been  used  in  all  countries  and 
in  all  climes  and  has  never  been  en- 
tirely superseded  by  any  other  inven- 
tion and  there  are  more  in  use  now 
than  ever.  It  is  used  to-day  by  all  the 
leading  engraving  houses  for  the  tak- 
ing of  the  finest  proofs  of  the  most 
delicate  engravings,  and  it  is  also  used 
for  printing  the  papers  that  come  from 
the  farthest  frontier  countries.  It  is  a 
most  remarkable  machine,  wonderful 
in  its  simplicity,  graceful  in  its  every 
line,  quiet  in  its  movements  and  pow- 
erful in  its  performance,  combining  the 
lever  and  the  fulcrum  of  which  Archi- 
medes said,  "Give  me  the  fulcrum  and 
with  the  lever  I  will  move  the  world," 
and  it  has  moved  the  world. 

Following  the  hand  press  came  the 
single  cylinder,  the  two  cylinder,  then 
the  four,  six,  eight  and  even  the  ten 
cylinder  presses,  but  all  these  were  too 
slow  for  the  modern  newspapers,  and 

—22— 


as  early  as  1865  William  Bullock,  of 
Philadelphia,  invented  the  press  bear- 
ing his  name  and  printing  from  a  con- 
tinuous web  of  paper.  This  press  was 
made  possible  by  the  invention  of 
stereotyping  from  paper  moulds,  allow- 
ing curved  plates  to  fit  small  cylinders. 
All  the  fast  presses  of  the  present  day 
are  built  on  the  principles  introduced 
by  Mr.  Bullock,  the  presses  turning  out 
a  hundred  thousand  copies  per  hour, 
being  practically  eight  presses  of  the 
same  pattern  in  one.  Bullock  never 
lived  to  see  the  wonderful  success  of 
his  style  of  presses,  for  in  erecting  the 
second  press  he  was  caught  in  the 
machinery  and  died  as  the  result  of 
the  accident. 

Other  Helps. 

Then  came  the  ubiquitous  reporter, 
the  stenographer  and  the  typewriting 
machine,  the  telephone,  electricity  and 
even  the  despised  kodak  that  has  be- 
come so  essential  in  illustrating  jour- 
nalism. 

When  the  Spanish  fleet  sailed  out  of 

—23— 


Santiago  harbor  and  the  great  guns  of 
the  United  States  navy  poured  out 
their  tons  of  shell  and  shot  that 
wrought  such  death  and  havoc  among 
the  enemy's  boats,  making  the  Carib- 
bean sea  a  seething  lake  of  hell,  the 
kodak  was  being  used,  and  it  faithfully 
conveyed  the  scenes  of  battle  and  the 
intense  expressions  on  the  faces  of  the 
participants  therein  from  that  far  away 
distance  to  the  United  States  where, 
through  the  process  of  electric  light 
and  photo-engraving,  they  were  por- 
trayed on  the  white  surface  of  Amer- 
ican newspapers.  Yes,  and  besides  all 
else  they  showed  Commander  Schley 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fight. 

The  excellence  of  the  products  of 
American  type  founders  has  done  much 
to  improve  American  papers.  But  the 
last  of  labor-saving  inventions  to  aid 
in  the  production  of  newspapers  were 
the  various  type-setting  machines.  The 
Mergenthaler  has  taken  the  lead,  a 
machine  composed  of  about  5,000  sep- 
arate and  distinct  pieces  of  metal,  but 
all  connected  and  working  so  harmo- 

—24— 


niously  that  the  machine  seems  to  be 
a  living  being  responsive  to  the  lightest 
touch. 

Already  had  come  the  telegraphic 
press  associations  that  cover  the  earth 
and  collect  the  news  from  all  places, 
using  thousands  of  miles  of  leased  tele- 
graph wires  to  bring  it  to  the  various 
newspaper  offices,  then  the  fast  mail 
trains,  the  rural  routes  to  aid  in  the 
distribution  of  papers,  and  who  can 
tell  what  may  come  next? 

The  Present. 

Standing  today  and  looking  back 
within  the  memory  of  some  of  the 
older  here,  we  find  some  contrasts  as 
compared  with  the  days  when  they 
took  up  the  newspaper  business.  A 
half  century  ago  there  were  very  few 
machine  presses  in  Illinois,  and  they 
were  in  the  larger  cities,  now  they  are 
to  be  found  in  hundreds  of  towns.  The 
greatest  offices  then  would  not  com- 
pare with  scores  of  offices  now  in  the 
smaller  country  towns.  In  those  days 
editors  were  supposed  to  be  a  set  of 
well  meaning  fellows  who  were  toler- 
—25— 


ated  and  had  to  be  supported  in  a  com- 
munity. Now  the  newspaper  men  of 
this  state  will  compare  favorably  with 
the  most  intelligent  and  prosperous 
classes  and  they  are  a  component  and 
leading  part  in  every  community  in 
which  they  reside.  In  those  days  the 
printing  office  was  up  some  back  stairs 
over  some  general  store,  hard  to  find 
and  uninviting  when  found.  Today 
many  of  the  newspapers  in  this  state 
own  their  own  business  houses,  which 
are  ornate  and  substantial  and  rival 
the  bank  buildings  in  the  cities  or 
towns  where  they  are  located.  The 
editor  is  both  a  professional  and  busi- 
ness man  and  is  looked  upon  as  such. 

The  papers,  magazines  and  periodi- 
cals of  today  are  works  of  art,  more 
magnificent  than  was  imagined  as  be- 
longing to  the  realm  of  journalism  in 
those  days  and  the  newspaperman  of 
today  has  the  confidence  of  the  public 
to  a  very  large  degree. 

But  while  these  favorable  contrasts 
are  the  rule,  I  am  sorry  to  say  there 
are  many  exceptions.  There  are  some 

—26— 


editors  who  do  not  honor  their  profes- 
sion. There  are  some  publishers  who 
are  not  impressed  with  the  advantage 
of  well  arranged  and  well  printed  pa- 
pers, and  whose  offices  or  shops  are  a 
disgrace  to  well  regulated  society. 
There  are  printing  offices  where  dirt 
and  disorder  is  the  rule  and  from  which 
emanate  papers  slovenly  printed  and 
disreputably  edited.  There  are  editors 
and  printers  who  have  not  aroused 
themselves  to  grasp  this  golden  age  of 
possibilities  in  the  newspaper  business, 
when  every  man  who  embraces  it 
should  be  a  leader  among  men  and  set 
an  example  illustrating  that  everything 
that  is  done  at  all  is  worth  doing  well. 

It  is  such  organizations  as  this,  the 
Illinois  Press  Association,  that  are  to 
educate  such  men  to  advance  with  the 
onward  march  of  time,  to  induce  such 
men  to  distinguish  the  difference  be- 
tween the  printing  press  and  a  road 
scraper,  between  the  muckrake  and  the 
pen,  and  avail  themselves  of  the  mag- 
nificent opportunities  they  should  and 
do  possess,  and  while  this  association 

—27— 


has  done  much  along  that  line  there  is 
yet  much  to  be  done,  and  may  God 
speed  the  work. 

Opportunities. 

My  friends,  have  you  ever  stopped 
to  seriously  consider  the  opportunities 
of  journalism?  While,  if  possible,  it 
\vould  be  better  that  all  persons  who 
engage  in  the  newspaper  business 
should  come  fully  educated  and 
equipped,  it  is  not  absolutely  necessary. 
The  making  of  newspapers  is  a  trade 
where  no  apprenticeship  is  required,  a 
profession  that  does  not  call  for  a 
diploma.  It  is  an  open  field  and  a  free 
contest  in  which  any  one  of  any  age 
or  class  may  enter.  And  those  who 
have  started  in  the  race  apparently  the 
least  equipped  with  education  or  train- 
ing have  sometimes  passed  and  sur- 
passed those  who  at  first  had  far 
greater  advantages.  But  poor  equip- 
ment does  not  always  insure  success, 
neither  does  the  best  preliminary  train- 
ing. Editors  have  become  famous  who 
stepped  from  the  graduating  class  of 
a  college  into  the  editorial  room. 

—28— 


Others  under  the  same  conditions  have 
been  ignominious  failures,  while  others 
who  have  "rolled  behind  the  press"  or 
have  made  their  start  sweeping  out  the 
office  have  met  with  equal  success  and 
just  as  dismal  failures.  But  journal- 
ism offers  all  a  chance  and  the  success 
or  the  failure  is  within  themselves.  To 
enter  the  profession  of  law,  medicine, 
theology,  pedagogics,  requires  many 
years  of  faithful  preparation,  and  even 
to  shoe  a  horse  one  must  serve  an  ap- 
prenticeship. But  the  newspaper  office 
is  a  workshop  and  a  college  within  it- 
self and  the  beginner  can  take  hold 
where  he  will  and  work  up  to  such  po- 
sitions as  have  been  occupied  by 
George  William  Childs,  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Ledger,  Chas.  A.  Dana,  of  the 
New  York  Sun,  William  Loyd  Garrison, 
of  the  Boston  Liberator,  Samuel  I. 
Prime,  of  the  New  York  Observer, 
Henry  W.  Grady,  of  the  Atlanta  Con- 
stitution, John  Clark  Ridpath,  the  en- 
tertaining historian,  Joseph  McCul- 
lagh,  of  the  Globe  Democrat,  or  our 
i  own  revered  Mrs.  Bradwell,  of  the  Chi- 

—29— 


cago  Legal  News,  and  myriads  of 
others  who  have  joined  the  ma- 
jority. Or  he  may  claim  such  po- 
sitions as  are  now  occupied  by  Henry 
Watterson,  of  the  Louisville  Courier- 
Journal,  James  R.  McLean,  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati Enquirer,  W.  J.  Bryan,  of  the 
Nebraska  Commoner,  Senator  Hawley, 
of  the  Hartford  Courant,  and  the  army 
of  newspaper  makers  who  now  keep 
the  world  awake. 

Graduates. 

Perchance  one  entering  the  newspa- 
per business  may  pass  through  its 
various  stages  and  finally  graduate  and 
have  his  name  enrolled  in  the  alumni. 
And  there  he  will  find  himself  classed 
with  such  men  as  John  G.  Whittier, 
who  edited  a  paper  in  Boston  and  was 
ore  of  America's  most  renowned  poets; 
Wendell  Phillips,  the  hero  of  liberty; 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  the  world's 
greatest  divine;  James  G.  Elaine, 
statesman  and  candidate  for  presi- 
dent; John  Hay,  author,  ambassa- 
dor, and  secretary  of  state;  Charles 
Emery  Smith,  postmaster  general; 

—30— 


Wiliam  M.  Springer,  who  represented 
the  capital  district  of  Illinois  in  con- 
gress for  twenty  years;  Geo.  W.  Peck, 
who  became  governor  of  Wisconsin; 
Henry  M.  Stanley,  who  gave  us  the 
secrets  of  interior  Africa;  Samuel  M. 
C4lemens,  who,  as  "Mark  Twain," .  has 
given  the  world  its  greatest  fund  of 
humorous  literature;  Robert  J.  Bur- 
dette,  who  has  filled  the  world  with 
sunshine;  James  Whitcomb  Riley,  who 
with  poetic  words  has  played  on  re- 
sponsive chords  in  the  hearts  of  every 
one  who  believes  in  the  common  peo- 
ple; Eugene  Field,  whose  "Little  Boy 
Blue  waits  for  the  touch  of  a  vanished 
hand,"  and  the  long  list  of  inspiring 
names,  so  many  that  the '  reading  of 
the  same  would  tax  your  endurance. 

Of  the  future. 

In  looking  over  the  field,  it  would  ap- 
pear on  first  glance  that  the  possibili- 
ties of  the  newspaper  business  have 
been  reached;  and  yet  I  predict  that 
the  remarkable  progress  of  the  past 
and  the  healthy  condition  of  the 

—31— 


present  are  but  an  index  to  further  im- 
provement in  the  future.  The  condi- 
tions of  life  and  living  are  improving 
all  over  the  world,  not  only  in  the 
most  civilized  portions,  but  in  the 
darkest  places  as  well.  Railroads  are 
being  built,  telegraph  lines  are  being 
extended,  electric  car  lines  are  bring- 
ing the  metropolis  and  the  farm  so 
close  together  that  it  is  but  a  step 
from  the  green  fields  of  the  country  to 
the  busy  centers  of  trade,  and  the  tele- 
phone has  brought  all  parts  of  the 
world  within  speaking  distance. 
Schools  are  improving,  the  rural 
mail  service  will  reach  the  door 
of  every  farmer,  the  products  of 
labor  will  be  more  nearly  equalized, 
there  will  be  less  work  and  more  time 
for  recreation  and  mind  improvement, 
and  the  newspapers,  which  always 
have  led,  will  continue  to  lead.  They 
will  be  better  edited,  better  printed, 
will  enjoy  better  modes  of  distribution, 
will  have  more  reading  matter  and 
more  readers  t  they  will  scatter  gems 
of  literature  and  thought  and  will  dis- 

—32— 


cuss  the  questions  that  will  come  with 
a  higher  mode  of  living. 

Every  man  who  is  engaged  in  the 
newspaper  business  should  realize  the 
responsibilities  that  rest  upon  him. 
He  should  be  proud  of  the  position  he 
occupies  and  should  do  his  part,  as 
God  has  given  him  the  opportunity,  in 
the  upbuilding  of  his  profession  and 
the  uplifting  of  mankind. 

For  the  profession  of  journalism  or 
the  trade  of  newspaper  making,  which- 
ever you  may  call  it,  is  the  grandest 
work  in  which  anyone  can  engage.  It 
is  the  one  trade  or  the  one  profession 
that  brings  a  person  into  close  touch 
with  the  balance  of  mankind,  that 
leaves  him  free  and  independent,  un- 
hampered and  unenthralled  to  cham- 
pion the  cause  of  the  weak  and  the  op- 
pressed and  to  follow  the  dictates  of 
his  own  conscience  in  the  battle  for 
right  at  all  times. 

It  is  not  in  all  places  as  it  is  in  the 
United  States,  for  several  nations 
which  enjoy  a  considerable  degree  of 
intelligence  and  large  measures  of  lib- 

—33— 


erty  have  not  yet  risen  to  that  high 
state  of  governmental  perfection  that 
permits  free  religious  worship,  free 
speech,  and  a  free  press.  Upon  these 
magnificent  principles  the  United 
States,  this  young  republic,  was  estab- 
lished but  a  trifle  over  one  hundred 
years  ago  and  since  that  time  it  has 
taken  its  place  as  the  greatest  of  all 
nations,  whether  of  the  historic  past 
or  of  the  strenuous  present.  It  has 
developed  a  constellation  of  newspa- 
pers wonderful  beyond  the  conception 
of  man,  surpassing  in  class,  quality, 
enterprise  and  independence  all  the  pa- 
pers of  all  the  world.  Each  and  every 
one  is  as  a  blazing  torch  that  illumines 
the  night  of  prejudice  and  error,  and 
in  the  course  of  time  they  will  make 
a  new  and  brighter  day  to  encircle  the 
globe.  A  day — yes,  more  than,  a  day; 
an  age — a  cycle  of  ages,  of  light,  free- 
dom and  liberty  that  will  lift  the  race 
of  men  to  a  moral  elevation  nigh  unto 
the  gods. 


—34— 


Addenda. 


The  Pioneers  of  Illinois. 


[Written  for  the  Old  Settlers'  Society  of  Sangamon  County.] 


You  have  seen  the  past— the  present— 
With  their  sorrows  and  their  joys; 

And  although  you  are  old  settlers  now, 
You  once  were  girls  and  boys. 

Oh,  you  gray-haired,  honored  pioneers, 
What  rogues  you  used  to  be 

Along  about  the  deep  snow  time, 
Way  back  in  thirty-three. 

And  you,   our  dear  old  mothers, 
You've  changed  a  heap  since  then; 

For  the  years  that  number  one  by  one 
Change  women  more  than  men. 

But  we  think  we  almost  see  you, 
With  your  smiles  and  with  your  curls, 

When  you  captivated  these  old  boys, 
You  giddy,  giddy  girls. 

How  you  watched  at  evening  sunset 
Down  the  long  and  narrow  lane, 

How  you  listened,  how  you  waited, 
For  you  knew  he'd  come  again; 

—37— 


And  when  you  saw  him  coming, 

As  shy  as  any  mouse, 
For  fear  he'd  think  you  anxious 

You  slipped  back  in  the  house. 

How  you  loved;  how  you  quarreled; 

How  you  broke  up  in  a  row; 
But,   then,  you  always  made  it  up 

Just  the  same  as  we  do  now. 

And  then  there  was  a  wedding, 
'Twas  the  happiest  day  of  life, 

When  the  boy  became  a  husband, 
The  girl  became  a  wife. 

Little  angels  came  to  live  with  you, 
Little  angels  without  wings, 

And  you  toiled  and  struggled  for  them 
Oh!  the  precious  little  things. 

Little  loved  ones,  how  you  loved  them, 
How  you  watched  them  day  by  day, 

And  they  called  you  Father,  Mother, 
And  you  taught  them  how  to  pray. 

Every  sunshine  has  its  shadow; 

Every  springtime  brings  its  rain; 
Every  life  must  have  its  sorrow; 

Every  pleasure  brings  its  pain. 

And  there  came  the  winds  of  winter, 
Came  they  with  their  chilling  breath, 

And  two  little  hands  were  folded, 
Folded  in  the  sleep  of  death. 


But  there  is  a  God  above  us 
And  the  husband  and  the  wife 

Changed  their  hope  from  earth  to  heaven 
Where  there  is  eternal  life. 
»    *    *    * 

If  there's  any  one  I  honor 

'Bove  all  others  in  this  land, 
It's  the  grizzled,  gray  old  pioneer 

Like  those  around  this  stand; 

You  have  been  the  bone  and  sinew, 
You  have  worked  with  one  accord, 

You  have  made  the  state  of  Illinois 
The  garden  of  the  Lord. 

For,  of  all  the  lands  we're  told  about 

In  the  Bible  or  by  sages, 
It  must  be  said  that  Illinois 

Is  the  wonder  of  all  ages. 

There's  the  happy  land  of  Canaan, 
Of  which  we've  heard  so  much, 

With  its  flowing  milk  and  honey, 
Its  warlike  tribes  and  such; 

As  compared  with  Illinois, 

It's  a  little  one-horse  land, 
You  couldn't  find  a  farm  there 

Much  bigger  than  your  hand. 

And  Jerusalem,   the  ancient— 
'Twas  a  great  town  in  its  way — 

But  'twould  hardly  make  a  suburb 
For  Chicago  of  today. 
og 


And   the   temple    that  was    built  there- 
Was  it  much  after  all? 

Do  you  think  that  it  was  equal 
To  our  own  great  capitol? 

What  were  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 

That  merited  God's  ire— 
What  was  all  of  their  destruction 

To  the  great  Chicago  fire? 

And  who  was  Alexander, 
That  people  called  him  great? 

There's  a  dozen  men  his  equal 
That  have  grown  up  in  our  state. 

Four  million  slaves  in  bondage, 

Raised  up  their  cry  to  God! 
They  prayed  for  their  deliverance 

From  the  slave  oppressors'  rod. 

Why,  then,  laud  the  first  Napoleon, 
With  his  wars  on  land  and  sea? 

Let  us   shout  for  old   "Abe  Lincoln," 
Who  set  these  millions  free. 

He  was  one  of  you  old  settlers, 

A  real  old  pioneer, 
But  among  the  world's  great  heroes 

He's  in  the  upper  tier. 

There's  another  man— you  loved  him; 
He  was  eloquent— defiant. 

He  lived  right  here  in  Springfield- 
He  was  called  the  Little  Giant. 

—40— 


When  the  spirit  of  rebellion 

Thrilled  the  country  through  and  through, 
The  question  that  absorbed  the  world 

Was,   what  will  Douglas  do? 

His  party  was  forgotten, 

The  Union  was  his  cause, 
And  the  party  followed  Douglas 

Amid  the  world's  applause. 

Then  there  was  Grant,  the  tanner, 
And  our  own  brave  boys  he  led, 

Like  a  besom  of  destruction 
Was  their  onward  soldier  tread. 

They  went  with  flags  and  banners, 
They  went  with  drum  and  song; 

They  went  from  Illinois 
Three  hundred  thousand  strong. 

How  they  struck  the  southern  army, 

Like  a  cyclone  in  its  wrath, 
How  that  army  fell  before  them, 

And  the  dead  filled  up  their  path. 

How  they  stood  while  shell  and  bullet 

Came  down  like  summer's  rain, 
With  hope  they  left  your  fireside, 

Did  they  all  come  back  again? 

No— but  the  war  is  over, 

The  dead  are  laid  away, 
And  your  daughters  scatter  roses 

O'er  the  blue  and  o'er  the  gray. 


The  old  settler  is  passing  away— 
He  seems  like  one  who  walks  alone 

Upon  some  old  familiar  shore — 
And  as  he  walks,  he  raises  up  his  eyes 
And  sees,  far  out  upon  the  ocean's  crest, 

The  outline  of  a  ship  that  bears  away. 
He  knows  the  ship  is  loaded  with  his  friends—- 
The old  companions  of  his  early  youth— 

And  he  is  left1  behind. 
And  as  it  disappears 
Its  absence  calls  him  to  himself  again; 
He  finds  he  is  surrounded  by  his  friends, 

The  best  of  friends, 

The  same  of  kin, 

The  same  of  good  Impulse 

As  those  who  sailed  away. 
These  friends  would  fain  pour  out  their  love  for  him, 

And  have  him  rest  content 
And,  yet,  withal,  they  are  to  him  unknown 
In  love's  essential  part  called  sympathy; 

For  they  are  of  a  younger  generation. 
And  when  he  would  unite  with  them, 
And  tug  and  toil  as  once  he  loved  to  do, 

He  finds  his  youth, 

He  finds  his  strength, 

His  whole  ambition  gone, 
And  throwing  down  the  burden  that  he  bears, 

He  lays  him  down  to  rest. 


— 42 — 


The  Old  Subscriber. 


[Written  for  the  Illinois  Press  Association,  1898.] 


One  day  an  old  man  and  a  boy'  came  in,  the  old  man  leaning 
on  a  crutch,  observed: 

"I  reckon  that  you  hardly  know  me  here, 
And  yet  I've  read  your  paper  many  a  year. 

My  name  is  Jones — 

I  live  in  Buckhart,  near  the  Christian  county  line, 
My  father  settled  in  the  timber  there  in  eighteen  twenty- 
nine, 

And  we  have  took  your  paper  since  it  was  first  got  out — 
In  thirty-five  or  thirty-six  or  somewhere  there  about. 

It  almost  breaks  my  heart 

To  tell  you  we  must  part, 

But  I  have  come  to  stop  'er — the  paper  I'm  a  gettin'. 

You  ask  me  why — I  hate  to  tell  you, 

For  a  man  is  sort  of  'shamed  if  hap'nen  to  be  poor, 

Of  lettin'  people  know  that  the  wolf  is  at  the  door — 

Not  only  at  the  door,  but  broke  clean  through  with  vim, 

And  glarin'  eyes  and  nashin'  teeth  that's  mighty  nigh  to  him. 

But  that's  my   fix,   and  while  I'm   'shamed  to  say  it,    it's  the 

truth, 

f    And  worse  than  all,  I  think  I'm  owin'  more  'an  I  can  pay; 
\\    I  thought  I'd  come  and  tell  you  for  to  cut  'er  off  today — 

I  mean  the  paper  I'm  a  gettin'. 

Of  course  I'll  miss  the  paper  that's  been  comin'  out  so  long, 
Like  we  miss  the  birds   in  autumn  when  they  cease  their 
summer's  song. 

—43— 


But  then  my  son,  who  always  came  and  paid,  he's  dead — 

He  got  mixed  up  with  a  fractious  colt  about  the  first  of  MayJ 
He  was   trainin'   of  the  creature  when  she  broke  and  run 

away.  -»• 

He  said,  "It  did't  'mount  to  much,  a  few  bones  broke  that's 

all"— 
But  he  failed  and  still  grew  worser  till  he  answered  to  the 

call. 

You  know  the  girl  he  married  wasn't  like  a  farmer's  wife — 
And  by  two  years  she  went  afore  to  try  the  higher  life — 

She  always  seemed  just  like  a  tender  flower. 
The  farm?     I  haven't  owned  it  for  a  dozen  years  or  so— 
A  fire  and  a  mortgage,  haint  neither  of  'em  slow, 
And  then  I  lost  my  wife; 
So  me  and  little  Jim,  this  lad  you  see- 
Jim's  boy,  is  all  that's  left  below 

To  wait  our  time. 

Yes,  me  and  little  Jim  is  all  that's  left— 
We  sort  of  fight  together 

And  chink  up  all  the  holes  to  keep  out  winter  weather, 
And  hold  the  wolves  of  poverty  at  bay. 

But  a  man  of  eighty  and  with  failin'  sight, 
To  make  a  battle  isn't  much, 
Seein'  as  his  only  weapon  is  a  crutch; 
And  as  for  Jim,  he's  only  eight — 
He  can't  do  much  at  any  rate. 

There's  one  thing  though  that  he  can  do, 

He's  got  the  sight —  - 

And  reads  the  paper  to  me  every  night, 
And  all  the  big  words  gets  'em  right — 
And  that's  what  Jim  can  do. 


But  no  more  readin'  now  for  Jim, 
Except  the  books  he  brings  from  school  with  him — 
For  while  a  paper's  what  I  call  in  fact  a  cryin'  need, 
If  you  haven't  got  the  money  you  hain't  no  right  to  read; 
We'll  try  and  do  without  it — 'tis  a  few  years  at  the  most 
'Till  I  will  join  the  army,  the  mighty  moving  host, 
That  marches  never  to  return, 
And  Jim'll  fight  alone. 

So  cut  'er  off  and  stop  'er  now,  and  we'll  do  what  we  can 
To  pay  you  what  we  owe  you,  for  we  want  to  act  the  man. 
But  while  we're  workin'  round  to  bring  this  thing  about, 
You'll  have  to  wait  awhile  for  to  straighten  it  all  out. 

The   old   man   ceased   and  with   a   withered  hand   brushed 
back  a  falling  tear. 


Then  the  newspaper  man  said: 
"My  dear  old  friend,  I'll  tell  you  how  to  make  this  matter 

straight, 
We'll   call   it    square — the   year  that's    past   and   throw    in 

ninety-eight, 
We'll  throw  in  every  year  to  come — we  hope  they'll  not  be 

few, 
That  we  can  print  a  paper  little  Jim  can  read  to  you." 


—45— 


YA  02060 


M180814: 


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